Chapter 99: Chapter 100: It's Not Over

The homestead is eerily silent since we returned. There's been a strange atmosphere in the whole

Homestead and even the village out back seems still and devoid of noise. Everyone is home licking

their wounds, absorbing the reality of what we just did and went through, and homes are filled with

warm reunions and an aura of hope. The air is lighter, brighter and the fog is completely gone. It

feels like something huge is now settling to dust yet spirits are high despite the need for peace.

Colton is sat on the bed drying his hair after the third shower he took to rid himself of a weeklong

buildup of debris, grime, and of course, Vampire blood. Something he does when he needs to think

for a while, and I know he probably wanted space from me to let the remainder of his anger fizzles a

little. Even though now, I'm laid on the bed behind him and he seems so much calmer than before.

I'm resting after a soak in the tub in our other bathroom where I took time to rid myself of all the

vileness of our hectic adventure. It was weird taking time apart to get clean, but he's been reserved

since we came home, simmering from anger to sadness and a lot of up and down mood swings. I

know he's probably going through every memory a dozen times to really take in the fact he lost

days of his life, when to him it was seconds of a blink of an eye. I know he’s processing and thinking

it all through and I'm waiting for him to come out of his head before I approach him again

He stayed close, even though he needed space and he hasn't been cold or anywhere near as mad as

he was on the walk home, but I can tell he still has so much brewing and for my own sanity I am

leaving him be.

Meadow is avoiding him too as the two of them are no longer talking. On returning home they had

a huge showdown in the study, venting, arguing, stubborn meeting fire, and I know it was his way of

letting everything out. His self-guilt, his feelings of failure and the knowledge of everything we have

done without him here to protect us.

I know that seeing how he hurt me is killing him, his obvious distress and pain is overwhelming me,

no matter how hard I try to reassure him that he couldn't control what happened. He hasn't said

much about my pregnancy since things diffused again, but I guess given everything he has to

process that maybe he doesn't know how to react. I mean what could he say after the doctor

checked me over and said I was perfectly fine. He looked relieved, held my hand, and then silently

brought me up here to clean up and rest, making sure I was brought food even if he was still

inwardly raging my way.

It's hardly great timing and with my abilities held back and making me vulnerable, it only adds to his

worry that I might get hurt or that worse could have happened out there. I get why he's being like

this, I do, but it has me so on edge and really not how I thought he would be when I got him back. I

guess knowing just how overprotective and anal he is about my always being safe and pampered is

confirmed with how much sulking he’s doing and how much he yelled at his Mom and Meadow.

Colton has always been one to aggressively lash out when he was in the most emotional turmoil,

even my way and now he’s brooding. I hope it doesn't last long given how much I just want to curl

up and be like we were before any of this happened.

I know him only too well, and as I watch that muscular body, now in sweats and fresh as a daisy

despite being topless, I can still see how tight and rigid his muscles are. Carrying his tension and

stress and I want so badly to smooth them out and roll up in his arms to relieve him. He's avoiding

touch too, to punish me for putting myself in danger, lugging my ass to another state, and heading

a war against our own warriors. I'm majorly in the doghouse even though he did admit out there

that the spell being broken wouldn't have come about any other way.

Every one of the sub pack have gone to their rooms to clean up, after a brief emotional reunion

downstairs too. Now they've gone to eat and rest before the arranged grand hall meeting where

Colton intends to debrief the pack and tell them what happens now. Time out is where we are at

and then we come together to talk about the future of the pack and the possibility this might be

nearing the end of the Vampire battles. There's just so much.

“You're never this quiet for this long, you're scaring me.” I finally break when he rests back on the

edge of the bed away from me, my nerves and anxiety too much to bare anymore. I lift my foot and

nudge him gently in the butt, pulling his attention back to me with a coy smile and a look on my

face that I hope tugs at his heart strings. Full on puppy dog eyes and pouty lips because he's being

so distant and quiet, and I don't like it one bit.

He turns and looks at me for a moment, making me hold my breath and I tense, wondering what's

to come next, but he sighs, and I find myself doing it with him. A sense of letting go in the air as his

emotions finally merge with mine and some of that wall comes down a little, making me relax a

touch. He pulls himself up and instantly crawls up the bed and lies down beside me, making the

mattress dip so I roll towards him.

Stretching out to meet my position, he puts his palm on my abdomen gently, a stillness to his

manner and I hold still and wait for him to make the moves, because I'm so unsure on how he'll

react. His eyes move to where he's holding and yet his face is so hard to read and he feels me

looking at him and avoids my eye contact. He pushes his face towards me, ducking down so I can’t

see him, nuzzling in against my shoulder as his breath plays softly over the skin on show from my

light nightdress. His presence alone warms me to my core and calms some of my inner anxiety,

sinking against him and exhaling heavily, even though I know he’s unwilling to fully uncurl.

“There's a lot...... My heads a little fried. I'm also sort of shellshocked about this.” he gazes at my

stomach and blinks back the instant damp sheen on his eyes and exhales heavily once more. My

heart skipping a beat or two with the slightest worry that maybe babies are not something he's

actually happy about and that's why he's being evasive and strange. We have never really talked

about it and we were using precautions to avoid exactly this.

My heart flutters with the very real possibility that this isn’t just down to his guilt gnawing at his

soul, but the fact he's going to be a father and maybe it was never in the plan for him. I swallow

heavily and try not to dwell on the slight chance, he’s devastated about it.

“Talk to me.” I nudge him, needing something more than quiet, and nuzzle closer. Inner anxiety

growing as my insecure self shows face. My heart rate increases, and my palms get clammy as I try

and appear neutral emotionally. I don't want to burden him with a spew of feelings when he’s

having a hard enough time deciphering his own, but it's hard.

The spell had fallout for sure and Leyanne did warn me that he may need an adjustment period to

get his head straight when we got home. That mind control and being trapped somewhere in a

state of timelessness would affect them on some level, even if it only lasted a week. I don't know

how much of that is this.

I smile impulsively when he lets go of my belly and wraps his arm around me instead, gesturing for

me to lift my head so his other one can slide under it and gives me his bicep as a cushion. A familiar

Colton move, one that soothes me a little and I try not to overthink this and instead focus on his

touch. I snuggle in greedily, needing him more than air, his legs wrapping around mine until every

inch of us touches intimately and he buries his mouth in my hair and tucks my head under his chin.

“Where to start... You went to New Mexico, you found your brother, brought back a witch...... Lead

our people into a crazy dangerous battle that might have ended all of us. Had a one-on-one fight

with me where I tried to kill you, more than once. And that's just to start..." He lets out a long

strained breath and squeezes me closer, his surge of chaotic emotions finally seeping through to

me and I can feel just how messy his brain is.

“I know.” I mumble guiltily in a low voice and stretch my arms around him as much as I can, clinging

on so needily.

“We're also going back to the mountain to finally deal with that chaos now we have reason to

believe the vampires are receding... and you're pregnant.... we're pregnant! I'm going to be a dad.”

He breaths out heavily as though this fact is still taking its time to filter through and is obviously the

major one for him that's giving him a hard time. The woosh of words, the extra hard exhale as he

got to the final point and yet I so cannot read a single emotion accurately to tell if it's a bad sigh or

a shocked one.

“I know, I know... Carmen imprinting on Jasper... meeting a vampire, finding out my dad's not my

dad.... 1 know there's a lot. I get it, I lived through it and I still haven't really absorbed any of it. I just

hate when you clam up and I can't tell what you're thinking, while your emotions are not helping me

any. I can tell you're sort of shocked, but there's a lingering something I can't decipher. I can feel it,

it's making me nervy and uptight and yet I don't know what it is.” It comes out in a ramble, my heart

pounding as my feelings get the better of me and turn me into a jittering wreck. I want to so badly

just ask him if he hates the fact I'm pregnant, but I'm too scared to hear the answer. My heart is

literally hanging by a thread, terrified of what pain he can cause with one simple rejection of what

grows inside of me.

"Disbelief.... that's what that is. It's not one thing, it's many... Like, are we really ending a war that's

plagued us our entire lives? Are we really going to be parents in the midst of all this? Is this all gone

from never ending threat to nothing in the blink of an eye. And what about you? Your father is

royalty among ... god, our enemy, Lorey. You're a freaking vampire Princess and that just blows my

mind. I'm not trying to close you out, I'm just... overwhelmed.” Which I guess is exactly how he has

me feeling. Overloaded, anxious, and weighed down with a thousand emotions all at once.

Sometimes sharing that is too much and it's hard for me to swallow even though I know he’s trying

so hard to shield me form the worst of it.

“Leyanne thinks that me being alive will pull Varro back from attacking our people so I guess, yes,

the threat is going to end. We just haven't had any word from Jasper or Darrius to confirm it, but

the mountain had way less vampires than we both know were there before. So where did they go?

And him..... once he knows I'm alive, what if he wants to see me?” I dodge the baby topic, sticking to

something less traumatic to my soul.

It is something I've thought about, my father, and honestly, I don't want to see him. I dont want to

face the reality that my dad, the one who raised me for ten years, the father I loved, was not even

my blood at all. That some lord, some creature out there, that I've never met who waged wars

because of me is who I belong to. I can't absorb it. I can't get my thoughts in order to really accept

it.

“I did think it was half empty considering how many we've chased through that infernal forest for

months. Or maybe there was always less of them and we assumed more. Maybe they just spread

out and used the same patrols over and over. God knows. We defeated them so fast, it's like they

weren't even trying to hold us off.” Colton sighs and instinctively squeezes me again, inhaling me as

though he’s glad to be home again even though his reality meant he never left me. It's odd. I guess

him having my memories now means it's messed up his timeline and he shouldn't miss me because

it was only today he left me, but his memories are making that confusing.

“Leyanne said that when vampires lose leadership when their coven lord abandons them.... they

become useless. Like they have no direction, and their abilities are stumped or something. She

thinks whoever the lord was, left them and the one you killed, had tried to take the place as coven

master.”

She told me all this downstairs when we first arrived back in a hurried conversation while Colton

issued orders to the pack and dispersed them to their homes until eight pm. Then went nuclear at

Meadow and Sierra and ended up storming off to the study.

The order is to rest, regroup, and meet to talk about everything, including what we found out when

we went to New Mexico. And now in the eerie calmness of a bright sunny day it feels like the events

of dawn are a dream and the last week already becoming a blur that never really happened at all. If

it wasn't for the witch still being here, I would think that I imagined it all. In his arms, it feels like he

never left me, despite the tension between us because of his mood and my dying need to know

what he thinks of our baby news.

“That suggests your father... the vampire one, is really pulling them back, but why leave any at all?

Surely he would take them if this was over.”

“What else is he going to do with them. They were made to fight and excess to needs if he no

longer wants to. He probably took the strongest and left the rest behind knowing eventually the

wolves would deal with them and get rid of his problem.” I got the impression from Leyanne’s

conversations that vampires see halflings as dispensable and worthless and a lord wouldn't think

twice of leaving them to die. So not like wolves at all.

After meeting Darrius, I see that we have only ever dealt with these crude half-bred demons all

along and the real enemy, the ones like Darrius, are something we should always fear. We never

really knew our enemy at all. We would never have stood a chance had the pure bloods been out

here ready to take us down.

“I just can't relax into this idea that this is all ending. It seems to easy, too clean. Maybe because he

left any at all. Maybe I just need confirmation, I don’t know. I can't shake the feeling that this is far

from over and it's not as simple as it all seems.” Colton releases me a little and pulls my face up to

him with a gentle finger under my chin. Leaning in to graze his lips over mine and it makes my heart

flutter and flip over. This is first he's calmed down enough to show this kind of intimacy since we

broke the spell. I greedily push my face to his to draw more, throwing all my doubts and questions

aside when faced with my desire to have more of him. I've craved him so much it almost made me

insane and one little peck is nowhere near enough.

Alpha, we need you downstairs.

Cesar breaks into our head link, running my plans and Colton lifts his head and frowns at me. Both

of us knowing this can't be good if we're being disturbed already. It's only been an hour or so since

we came up here.

Cesar never encroaches on our private time together, no one does. It's the one major rule that

Colton has. That when he wants to be with me alone, it's a cardinal sin to interrupt us without him

first giving the signal that they can. Colton gave strict orders to leave us be unless it was an

emergency and Cesar wouldn't disobey that if it wasn’t. My heart sinks and I almost pout at the loss

of his lips near mine as he pulls away.

I'm coming.

Colton links back and let's go of me fully, jumping to his feet to retrieve clothes and yanks a long

warm robe out of the wardrobe for me. Despite my disappointment, my insides soar at the fact,

even being aloof and strange, he’s still wanting me by his side. Still my normal Colton in there after

all, the one who expects my constant presence and panders to me in anyway he can.

I put on a comfy nightdress after my soak, so a robe is a must and I get up and let him help me into

it with a smile. Pushing my feet into slippers, blushing when he kisses me on the back of the head

tenderly and follow him as soon as he throws his upper clothes on. I feel like we're back to dating or

being shy somehow, and I don't get it at all. I know it's probably one sided as he seems like he

always does concerning being touchy with me, grabbing my hand and such, but I feel nervous and

restrained. I guess it's because of that burning questions that's digging a crater in my soul and

needs a real answer before I can relax

We head downstairs quickly and can tell by the scent that the sub pack are already convening in the

study that used to be our room, away from the hall, in cozier confines. I pick up on every one of

them as they recently passed through and follow Colton to our preferred nook for sub meetings.

We have never migrated from our small private space for the original sub pack. Some habits die

hard.

They are all inside, including Leyanne which I'm surprised to see, given how protective of this room

they can be and the twins seem to be a little enamored with her. One sat either side of where she is

and she's making it clear she may remove body parts if they get too close. There's an unmissable air

of warning in her stiff upright posture. Her hostile glare at one and then the other as they throw her

charming smiles makes me giggle and I bat Domi on the head as I pass him and move to the seat

where Colton guides me.

“Behave” I warn and then nestle down in the seat when Colton moves past it for me to sit and he

stands beside me. Always nearby, always guarding me instinctively, even in our safe spaces. He's the

ideal mate, even when he's being a distant asshole.

“What is it?" he asks, looking around the seemingly happy and calm faces, getting to the point with

a domineering tone and its only then I notice that Cesar is pacing and the only one, besides the

witch, that looks serious.

"We're all here?” Cesar turns to us, a quizzical expression on his face and I note Meadow isn't here

yet.

“No, what about Med..." I start but he cuts in and silences me with a wave of his hand.

"She's coming, she’s getting Carmen.” Cesar seems unusually stiff and brisk in the way he responds,

and Colton’s furrowed brow tells me he’s wondering what the hell is up. In the absence of Colton

then someone always stands as pack head of security at all hours. I guess Cesar was on that duty

before we were called down, despite the fact he should have been among the resting,

Colton, Meadow, Matteo, Radar, and Cesar are usually the only ones who make sure everything runs

peaceably around the clock and have the authority to call a meeting like this before reporting to

Colton. He still treats them as semi equal in all things. So a gathering like this isn't unusual but given

the witch is here and now they even requested Carmen, I feel unsettled in my stomach. Given

today’s events and everyone's need for down time, my gut says this isn't good at all.

Leyanne sits still and silent but even in the short time I've known her I can tell she has something to

say and isn't looking as joyous and chill as the others. Her aura screams of dissatisfaction and

maybe slightly annoyed. I don't get why. Maybe that's just her though and I'm being sensitive.

"We're here. Meadow appears with Carmen in tow and they both head straight for a seat and sink

down onto the sofa, although Meds is perched and upright and starts tapping her foot in agitation.

Carmen glances around then catches my eye with a questioning frown, and I can only shrug in

response. I have no more idea than she does.

"Someone gonna tell me what's up?” Colton snaps, his tension getting the best of him and Meadow

breaks instantly. Her expression bleak as she locks eyes on him and despite their ongoing standoff, I

know their close relationship is stronger than a tiff, and important things will push aside bickers.

Meds and Colton are like siblings and will never fight for long. They never do.

“They're moving against the mountain... the witch got word from the vampire..... the missing vamps,

they have been gone since yesterday. This isn't over by a long shot... blood is to be spilled on the

valley and the Santa pack there is in serious danger.”

"Wait what? I thought you said this was done... isn't that....?” Colton’s confusion matches mine and

this time, as I snap my eyes to him and back towards meadow, panic rising in my throat as his

question dies on my lips. Despite all eyes turning to Meadow for explanation on what she just

stated it's Leyanne who speaks. Cutting in smoothly knowing she needs to expand on those minute

details.

“The lord has held onto this for a long time..... he wasn't so easy to sway. Even with news of his

child. He pulled the strongest from the mountain and he plans on eliminating all who had a part in

Marina's death.” She looks to me, her expression almost blank as though this isn't news to her or

even a concern. Honestly this witch, she doesn't seem fazed at all. It irks me on a serious level, and I

glare at her, somehow feeling anger that she cares about nothing at all, even after fighting for our

side. I don't understand how anyone can be so detached.

“Tell him the rest.” Meadow snaps as though the witch is annoying her too, although with avoiding

something important and I screw my face at Meds for her harshness. Out of character especially

when Leyanne has done so much or us these past few days and they had created a mutual

understanding of respect.

Leyanne stands up and dusts down her clothes, straightens her layered skirt and walks to the

fireplace before leaning against it. Infuriatingly calm and non-rushed. Still clearly not all that

invested in what's unfolding when we thought the worst was over. Graceful, poised, oozing power in

her mannerisms. She could be royalty if you didn’t know her.

“This wasn't a war of two kinds this time around..... it was little more intentional. I didn't think it was

an important detail but none the less..... the only state having battles with vampires is this one. The

only pack under attack is Santo. I know, I've travelled and this war as you call it, the only

repercussions are all here around your two mountains. The wolves are not under threat.... just your

bloodline. None of the others even know there's any kind of trouble at all.”

That revelation sinks around us like a lead ship and as eyes widen, and we look to one another, I

suddenly see it all click together and make sense. Why out of all the packs in the world, our valley,

the orphanage, was the test place for their weapon and why we were followed here.

“This was always about us?” Colton’s shocked breathy reply makes my blood run cold. The

realization sinking in numbs my skin and sends a creeping crawl of ants across my face. My heart

hammering at her words. Somehow it seems worse to know that this is a focused attack, and we are

alone in terms of defending the valley, especially knowing Lord Varro is like Darrius and both of

them will be heading there to settle this debt. 000000000000000